Adaptation
by Dracefic
Summary: Tony changes something in his life and faces the consequences... There is some hurt, but also some healing! - Gibbs/Tony strong friendship; hurt/comfort. There's some mentioning of Tony/OMC, but this is NOT a slash fic!
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hey guys. :) I'm back with another Gibbs/Tony friendship fic of the hurt/comfort variety… There's some mentioning of Tony/OMC, but this is ****NOT a slash fic! – Though I have to admit it introduces an aspect into Tony's character that is not really in line with either sub- or supratext of the show… ;-) That said: Have fun! Hope you enjoy. :)**

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><p>„He cannot know, Ducky..." Tony's voice had a strangely desperate quality to it, which made the older man's gaze instantly soften.<p>

"Quite on the contrary, my dear boy… Jethro _needs_ to know."

"No! – I mean, _no_. _Definitely_ not!"

Ducky frowned slightly at the other man's vehemence.

"Whyever not, Anthony? Jethro cares a great deal about you. He will be very happy for you…"

"Happy? – Are you kiddin' me, Ducky? He'd kick my ass so hard, I wouldn't be sitting down for a _month_… Worse than that: he'd probably just _kill_ me! At the very _least_ I'd be off the team. – Can't let that happen, Ducky…" Nervously combing a hand through his hair, Tony anxiously met the medic's calm gaze.

"Oh, Anthony. Jethro might be many things, but he is not a bigot. – And he'd never fire you because of something personal like this."

Tony eyed him disbelievingly. "He's a _Marine_, Ducky! If he hears I'm gay, I'm off the team so fast I can't say 'meet my new boyfriend' fast enough!"

Ducky started to shake his head slightly at that, eyeing the younger man patiently.

"My dear boy… Currently having one male lover amongst, well, countless examples of the female variety, doesn't automatically make you gay. – And just because Jethro is a Marine, doesn't mean he cannot see beyond a superficial, preconceived notion."

"Preconceived – Ducky! The guy is as Marine as they get! He's hard as steel – smiles twice a month! I mean, he doesn't use so much as a stool to elevate his leg, even if his knee's been killing him for _weeks_! – What I'm saying is: he's a Marine through and through. Something like that is as taboo as it gets! He wouldn't be able to just overlook it." He looked up to meet the other man's gaze and hold it. "There's no _way_ he can ever know about this, Ducky… Promise me – _promise me_ – that you will _not_ tell him. Ever."

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><p>"McGee. Bring me that chair over there…"<p>

"Yes, boss."

Without even looking up from the paperwork he'd been studying, Gibbs used one hand to pull his left leg up and place it on the seat of the chair his agent had just brought over.

McGee immediately frowned at the entirely unexpected action, but then seemed to recover just as quickly, forcing himself to ignore it and simply sit down at his own desk again.

Sure enough it was DiNozzo who suddenly paled dramatically, standing up as if in slow motion.

"Boss… What the hell are you doing?"

Slowly looking up, Gibbs calmly met his shocked gaze; his expression couldn't have been more poker-face.

"What do you mean, DiNozzo?" He slowly followed the younger man's eyes towards his elevated leg. – His expression didn't change at all when he finally made eye-contact again.

"Knee's been pretty sore the last couple of days; there's some swelling. Thought elevation might probably be a good idea… – There something wrong with that?"

"No!" Tony was still staring at him in absolute shock, a very uneasy feeling slowly but surely creeping up in him. "Nothing wrong with that at all, boss… Just – " Gibbs raised a questioning eyebrow. "Just nothing. Shutting up, boss. – Hope you're feeling better soon."

He could feel his boss's gaze resting on him a moment longer, before both of them simply went back to work.

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><p>They had been spending the last hour and a half at the club, listening to the various interpretations of modern grunge. When Jeffrey, the lead singer of the current band who had also gotten them their free tickets for the night and adviced them earlier on which seats to take, had just started in on their third song and was surreptitiously glancing in Tony's general direction, Gibbs turned slightly to face the younger agent, before casually nodding towards the musician.<p>

"He's a nice guy."

Tony raised an eyebrow at that, studiously continuing to sip his beer.

"Sure is." He desperately hoped he was sounding his usual casual self...

A semi-long pause. Then Gibbs spoke again, his eyes now on the musician, voice firm.

"You two seem to be getting along very well." He briefly glanced towards the younger man again, hoping to convey his sincerity. "That's a good thing, Tony."

Somewhat startled by the unexpected comment, Tony reflexively turned to meet his boss's unusually mild gaze. This time, he didn't even pretend not to understand where this was going…

"Thank you, Gibbs." His gratitude and relief were almost palpable.

Two seconds later, he cringed from a vicious blow to the back of his head. – He threw the older man an accusing and slightly questioning glance.

"That was for trusting me so damn little after _8 years_, DiNozzo!"

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><p>"Yeah; Gibbs…" He more mumbled than spoke into the phone, having been asleep for less than two hours, and having only two or so left before he'd already have to get up again…<p>

"Leroy Jethro Gibbs?" An unfamiliar, female voice asked for confirmation.

Frowning slightly, he pushed himself up into a sitting position, narrowly avoiding hitting his head on the planks of his semi-finished boat.

"Yeah. – Who's this?"

"Bethesda Naval Hospital, Sir. – You're listed as next of kin to one of our patients…"

That got him awake in a heartbeat. A slow feeling of dread was creeping up his gut.

"What happened." Was all he finally replied, not even bothering to ask about the identity of this mysterious 'patient'. – As far as he knew only one person besides his Dad listed him as next of kin, and his old man was currently more than 200 miles from Bethesda Naval Hospital…

"Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo was injured tonight. He's conscious and insisted there was no need to call you, but with a head injury involved…" Her voice tapered off somewhat uncertainly.

Ignoring her obvious internal struggle, Gibbs was already on his way up the stairs.

"I'm on my way."

Click.

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><p><strong>TBC (obviously)… :)<br>**


	2. Chapter 2

"What the hell happened." Gibbs almost angrily strode towards what was apparently Tony's attending physician, demanding an explanation. _Now_.

The medic lifted a hand in a vaguely placating gesture, before simply letting it sink again and producing what looked like a somewhat forced smile.

"Agent Gibbs?"

Had Gibbs been a religious man, he would have prayed for patience.

"_Yes_." He instead all but barked in response.

The medic gestured for him to sit on one of the chairs in the waiting area.

"Agent DiNozzo was injured last night around 10 pm. Apparently he was attacked by a group of people and hit repeatedly in the process… He was not very happy with us for calling you, but now that you're here he indicated that we were allowed to inform you about his condition."

Gibbs frowned slightly at that, taking a quick breath to demand some more specific information about Tony's condition, preferably sometime right about _now_, when the other man already continued.

"He's concussed, has a nasty laceration above the right eye and a couple of cracked ribs. He also suffered several rather serious contusions, though we could so far not detect any serious internal bleeding…"

Gibbs gave a clipped nod in response, indicating that he was following so far.

"His left shoulder was dislocated when he came in, but we already reduced it. X-rays show no fractures, but he'll be in a sling for a little while." He interrupted his report briefly, flicking a quick glance towards the clipboard in his hand. When he looked up again, his expression had sobered some more. "The most serious injury concerns his… genital area, I'm afraid; but we're confident that there won't be any permanent damage. Given time, everything should heal just fine…"

At that, Gibbs' frown deepened exponentially. "But he wasn't…"

"No." The medic immediately shook his head, interrupting the question before Gibbs had even steeled himself for voicing it. "There are no signs of rape. He was kicked and beaten, but – as far as we can tell and Agent DiNozzo is claiming – there has been no sexual assault…"

Gibbs nodded, exhaling softly in apparent relief. "So. How severe are those… injuries."

The medic calmly met his by now openly concerned gaze. "He suffered a testicular rupture, but we already explored the injury surgically and were able to repair the tear. We're confident that the intervention occurred quickly enough to prevent any long-term damage. We also put in a small drain for now and put him on broad-spectrum antibiotics to help with that. – Other than that, he suffered several contusions of the testes and… surrounding tissue. – Bottom-line is: He'll be in considerable discomfort for a while, but he should be fine eventually..."

Gibbs nodded again, his expression once again controlled, posture determined.

"Where can I see him."

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><p>Entering the standard hospital room, Gibbs was relieved to find his agent at least conscious and apparently lucid. That was, if his unhappy groan at seeing him here was any indication…<p>

Not commenting on the reaction, Gibbs simply pulled up a visitor's chair and sat down next to the bed. Under his half-frowning gaze, DiNozzo finally cracked.

"You should see the other guy?" He eventually joked weakly. – A valuable attempt, even though Tony's grin really looked more like a grimace…

Gibbs nevertheless allowed his lips to quirk just a little into the beginnings of what might have been considered a tiny half-smile.

"How are you feeling…" Was all he finally replied, his tone unusually mild.

Tony briefly met his gaze at that. "I'm fine." He emphasized the statement with a small, but determined nod. "They shouldn't have called you, boss…"

"The hell, they shouldn't…" Gibbs all but growled in response. As far as he was concerned, the other man couldn't look any further from fine. He briefly wondered – irrationally – how the hell this much damage could have been inflicted in just the 8 or so hours he hadn't been with the younger man… Locking eyes with his agent, he finally inquired quietly: "What happened, Tony?"

The younger man shrugged slightly in response, wincing when the movement apparently pulled on his injured shoulder. Then he turned his head a little, studying the wall opposite his bed. "Guess I just got mugged..."

Gibbs' frown once again increased exponentially at that. "Mugged?" He echoed disbelievingly.

Silence. – Then, flicking a very brief glance at him: "What do you think, Gibbs? – Guess my little secret didn't remain all that secret for very long…"

Gibbs kept his gaze on the other man, not reacting to the tone of frustrated resignation in his voice. "Tell me what happened," he insisted instead.

When Tony had reluctantly outlined the events of the night – that basically consisted of him driving home and being greeted on the parking lot in front of his apartment building by a gang of 6 or 7 men, who immediately started attacking him, only stopping when another car finally drove up to the group – Gibbs barely kept himself from cursing an expletive.

Instead he forced himself to remain calm, intent on not worsening the trauma Tony had already suffered that night.

"Did you know any of them?" He finally just asked quietly.

Tony slowly shook his head. "I don't think so. – But I couldn't see them very well…"

Then, without meeting the older man's gaze: "Gibbs…" He sounded extremely uncomfortable. "I really think it would be a good idea to simply let this one go."

Gibbs stoically clung to his poker-face even though he couldn't believe what he was hearing. "And why's that, DiNozzo…" He finally just gave back without inflection, even if his voice held just the slightest trace of warning by now.

The younger man started to squirm slightly under his intense gaze. "I know what you're thinking, boss… But this is only gonna get worse if we make too big a thing out of it."

"_Too big a thing_?" Gibbs echoed incredulously, finally unable to completely reign in his rising anger any longer. "They could have damned well killed you, DiNozzo! Maybe would have, if they hadn't been interrupted… As it is, you'll be out for _weeks_! – If this is not a 'big thing', then I don't know what is…"

"Look…" Tony still looked uncomfortable, but for some reason he also seemed determined. "I'm sorry this happened. And you know me… I'll be back at the office as soon as I possibly can. – But if this is investigated, it's just gonna make me an all the bigger target! And it won't be worth it. Even if you find out who did this, there's probably a lot more guys around the pen that will wanna do the exact same thing..." As soon as he had finished, he seemed to sink further back into the cushions that were propping him up, the exhaustion he must be feeling showing on his face and in his posture for the first time that night.

Gibbs kept his steel gaze on him for several long moments. Then he simply reached out to touch the shoulder closest to him, the one that was currently not in a sling, giving it a gentle squeeze.

"Get some rest, Tony. It'll keep till tomorrow…"

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><p><strong>tbc - maybe ;-)<strong>


	3. Chapter 3

Three days later, Tony was sitting on the edge of his hospital bed, enduring yet another check-up by one of his doctors.

The medic finally nodded, removing the stethoscope from his patient's chest.

"Looking good, Tony. – There's no reason for us to keep you, but you'll need some help at home for a couple of days…"

The young agent gave a brief nod in response, immediately dismissing the advice. "I'll be fine, doc; don't worry."

The medic eyed him somewhat critically at that. "Does that mean there'll _be_ someone with you?"

When Tony didn't reply anything immediately, Gibbs' impatience finally won out and he stepped into the room. "There will be."

Two pairs of eyes turned towards him at that, causing him to shrug slightly. "He'll be staying with me until he's feeling better."

Tony immediately started protesting. "Boss… That really won't be necessary. I'm feeling fine already; I'll be okay at my own place…"

Gibbs simply kept his gaze on him, one eyebrow raised, while clearly addressing the doctor who was still standing somewhat indecisively in front of Tony eyeing both men curiously. "Could you give us a minute, doc?"

The medic immediately nodded. "Sure. – I'll just go and… get the paperwork ready."

As soon as he had left the room, Gibbs eyed his senior field agent critically. "What's this about, Tony…"

Sitting up slightly, the younger man winced a little at the unexpectedly sharp pain the movement elicited. "It's not _about_ anything, Gibbs… I'm just saying I'll be fine by myself." Then, cracking a little under Gibbs' scrutinizing glare: "I mean, believe me. You _really_ don't wanna have me at your house right now…"

"Is that a fact, DiNozzo." Walking towards Tony's bag, he simply picked it up and slung it over his shoulder. "When have you ever _not_ stayed at my place during reconvalescence?"

Tony quickly averted his gaze at that. "It's not the same thing, boss. – Right now, if I stayed with you that would start all kinds of rumors I'm sure you'd rather avoid…"

"I don't give a damn about _rumors_, DiNozzo," Gibbs very nearly growled in response. "And now shut up and get moving; doc finds us still discussing this, he might change his mind and keep you..." With that he already started walking towards the door.

When he noticed the younger man slowly starting to follow, looking somewhat unsteady on his feet, he casually snatched one of the wheel-chairs from the nearby nurses' station, indicating for DiNozzo to sit in it. "Hospital regulations," he commented uncompromisingly. "You know how it goes, Tony; God knows we've been through this often enough…"

In all honesty, he fully expected the younger man to refuse the suggestion. In fact, he was already preparing himself to shift from 'discussion' into 'order mode' to overcome the very likely resistance. So it came as quite a shock to him, when Tony hesitated for a just moment, before simply turning slightly and using his good arm to help lower himself carefully into the chair.

The unexpected action did nothing to alleviate Gibbs' concern about his agent's condition. In fact, his alarm level had just shot up several notches.

Briefly leaving the younger man to pick up the discharge papers, Gibbs quietly addressed Tony's doctor again. "He okay to be on his feet?" He was still frowning slightly in unwanted concern.

The other man nodded slightly in response, giving him a somewhat reassuring half-smile. "He should be okay for short periods of time. – He's still a little unsteady due to the pain movement causes him right now, and his blood pressure has bottomed out a few times… But that should all start improving over the next couple of days. Someone should stay close when he's on his feet for more than a few minutes at a time, but other than that he should be fine."

Then, somewhat tentatively: "So… He agreed to stay with you?" He gave the older agent a slightly skeptical glance.

Gibbs didn't even bother nodding. "He better be…"

Another slow nod. "And you think you'll be okay helping him out a little?" He deliberately kept the question vague.

Gibbs now made eye-contact again, his expression calm and sure. "I've had some training as a field medic, if that's what you're asking. Should be okay to handle things; otherwise we'll just contact you."

The medic nodded again, a slight smile playing around his lips. "Okay, then. I'm sure you'll be fine. As I said: He should quickly start improving now, and I don't foresee any complications. – If any of his injuries should start paining him more, or if he should develop a fever, you'll need to bring him in again though…" He waited for Gibbs to confirm the statement with a slight nod, before finishing up his instructions:

"I've left his prescriptions with the nurse; you'll need to pick them up today, because there's a salve he should use twice daily at least. Also, he'll definitely need to keep wearing the sling, at least for another week, maybe two. We'll see how he's doing when he comes in again for his next appointment... Other than that, you can use a tape or bandage to stabilize his ribs for a while, if he needs it, but try to get him to do the breathing exercises I've been showing to him a couple times each day. – I told him as well, of course, but extrapolating from his enthusiasm here…" He gave a somewhat wry smile. "Also, don't be too careful with the pain medication; he'll be in considerable discomfort for a while yet, and there's no need for him to feel any more of it than he has to."

Gibbs was already looking forward to _that_ conversation…

With another nod of acknowledgement he then simply accepted the instruction sheet the doctor was handing over to him and turned towards his agent, who had – by sheer reflex it seemed – started chatting with one of the nurses, though the act lacked much of its usual enthusiasm. Gibbs still couldn't fully suppress a good-natured eye-roll when he approached the two again.

"Come on, DiNozzo – time for a change of scenery. Say goodbye to the nice lady…"

That got him a matching eye-roll in response, but at least Tony obediently said his goodbyes.

When he had silently started pushing the wheel-chair towards one of the elevators, Tony commented mildly with a slightly amused – if tired – half-smile: "Never actually seen you take one of those instruction sheets before…"

"Yeah, well…" Gibbs immediately gave back somewhat defensively, "never actually had you at my house three days after surgery."

Tony once again rolled his eyes in response. "It wasn't _surgery_, Gibbs. They didn't even put me under…"

Gibbs' expression hardened slightly at that, his hands clenching momentarily around the handles of the chair. "They cut into you, Tony. It was surgery." His tone was uncompromising, maybe even a little sharp. – He didn't even know why his agent's almost habitual attempts to downplay his injuries seemed somehow unacceptable this time.

"So…" Tony tentatively started again once they were both on the elevator. "How pissed off are you…"

Gibbs simply raised an eyebrow at that, marveling once again at his agent's ability to pick up on his mood, even distracted as he had to have been by his own discomfort. On the other hand, it didn't really surprise him that some of the frustration he had been feeling over the last couple of days had shown through at one point or another, even if he had been doing his damndest to hold it in as much as possible whenever he had been around his recovering agent.

"What do you think?" Was all he finally replied, this time allowing some of the tenseness to show in his testy reply, even though Tony's slight flinch made him almost immediately regret his uncontrolled tone.

"I didn't actually tell anybody, you know; accept for Abby..." Tony sounded apologetic more than anything else. "Well, and Ducky of course, but only after he came to my place for those case files last week, and he and Jeff sort of ran into each other..." He turned his head slightly as if to make eye-contact, but kept his gaze on the wall of the elevator. "I really have no idea how anybody else could have known, Gibbs; I'm sorry…"

Gibbs' eyes narrowed slightly at that, the irritation now openly showing on his face. "I'm not pissed at _you_, DiNozzo. And for God's sake, stop apologizing!"

The harsh comment was met with silence.

When Tony finally spoke again, his tone was careful, but also very much 'DiNozzo' in its quiet persistency. "I gotta tell you, boss… For someone who's not pissed at me, you sure do sound really, really pissed at me…"

Gibbs forced himself to exhale slowly at that, his tense posture finally relaxing a little again. He tried to catch the younger man's gaze, but Tony had already turned towards the slowly-opening elevator doors. "I'm not angry with you, Tony," he finally stated much more softly, giving the wheel-chair another gentle shove. "But I'm pissed as hell at the assholes that did this to you…"

"Yeah, well…" Tony replied quietly, gingerly starting to push himself up and out of the chair, as soon as they had reached the hospital doors. "It's not as if I didn't know the 'rules' going into this…"

Feeling the anger already creep up again, Gibbs swallowed another harsh comment at the last possible moment, but on their slow way to the car he kept clenching his teeth hard enough to hurt...

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><p><strong>AN: Sorry for the delay in updating this... Let me know what you think! :)**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Can't believe how long it's been... Still decided to finish this! - Hope you enjoy :)**

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><p>"You wanna try taking a shower?" Gibbs eyed the younger man questioningly, internally debating the wisdom of his suggestion, even knowing that Tony would feel better for it…<p>

Their first night together had been mostly uneventful. Tony had gone to bed early, courtesy of the pills he had grudgingly accepted after his second breathing treatment. After that, Gibbs had tried working on his boat for a while, but had continued to feel irritated and restless, the frustration of his forced inactivity and his uncharacteristic uncertainty about the situation disrupting his concentration and workflow. In the end, he had briefly checked on Tony and – finding him still fast asleep – worked out some of his frustration by a late-night run.

This morning, he had been up early – his usual workday rhythm hard to break – but had been very surprised to find Tony joining him in the kitchen not half an hour later. Remembering the reduced gusto with which Tony had forced down the hospital food the last couple of days, he had then broken his routine by preparing some toast and eggs for them in addition to his usual morning coffee.

And now, after they had both finished eating, he was waiting for his agent to decide on the next cause of action. – He wasn't entirely surprised when DiNozzo immediately nodded at his suggestion.

"Yeah, think that would be a good idea…"

Placing the dishes in the sink, Gibbs concentrated on keeping his tone both neutral and open. "You want some help with that?"

He could practically feel his senior field agent shaking his head behind his back and he heard the slight smile in his voice when he immediately declined the offer. "Nah, I'll be fine. But thanks, boss…"

.

When Tony returned from the bathroom about half an hour later, he looked pale and somewhat shaky, but he was again smiling slightly. "This feels much better…" Still, the way he immediately made a beeline for the sofa and quickly sank down on it, told Gibbs how much the simple act of showering had cost him…

"You need a hand with that?" Gibbs nodded towards the rib protection Tony was loosely holding in his good right hand. He was otherwise dressed in a warm bathrobe Gibbs had given him earlier, a towel additionally wrapped around his waist.

Tony eyed him for a moment, but then just gave a slight nod in response before somewhat reluctantly handing over the bandage.

"Can you stand up for this?"

Gibbs reflexively reached out for his agent's good elbow when Tony took a breath, before starting to push himself to a slightly shaky stance. – Patiently waiting for the younger man to get his bearings, he finally instructed calmly:

"You'll need to lose the bathrobe."

Once again hesitating briefly, Tony gave him a somewhat wry smile. "You sure you wanna see this? It's pretty colorful…"

The uncharacteristic shyness wasn't lost on Gibbs, and he wondered just how much this thing had changed between them and just how far Tony was willing to let it go... Not replying anything, he finally just gave his agent a patient half-smile in response and decided to simply wait him out.

Apparently steeling himself for what was to come, Tony eventually nodded slightly, briefly meeting his boss's calm gaze again. "Right, okay. Just get on with it, huh…?" With that he shrugged the robe off his right side, before very carefully letting it slide down his for the moment slingless left arm, all the while keeping the towel around his hips firmly in place.

Letting his gaze travel over the younger man's upper body, Gibbs had to fight to keep his composure. Tony's whole torso was covered in angry looking bruises, the rib section swollen and obviously very tender, if his carefully slouched posture and shallow breathing were any indication. Very gently touching the right side of the ribcage to feel for areas of maximal heat and swelling made Tony flinch slightly, though from pain or nerves Gibbs could not tell.

"Relax, Tony; you're okay…" The words left his mouth without conscious thought, as he automatically tried to alleviate some of his agent's discomfort during his careful examination. "Breathe out," he finally instructed, waiting for Tony to comply before starting to expertly wrap the injured ribs in the supporting bandage.

The moment he was done and had quickly made sure that the support wasn't too tight, he immediately prompted Tony to sit down again, worried by the bone-white hue his complexion had taken on by now.

"Okay…?" He finally asked quietly, when Tony had taken several semi-deep breaths and seemed a little further from simply fainting again.

"Yeah… Sorry about that. – Don't know why I get so shaky all the time. It's not as if I've lost a whole lot of blood…" Another somewhat embarrassed half-smile.

"Pain can do that to you, Tony." Gibbs replied matter-of-factly, before handing over two pills and a glass of water. "Speaking of which…"

Rolling his eyes, the younger man accepted the meds, but hesitated then.

"Just take them, Tony; they're not gonna kill you..." When that didn't produce the desired outcome, he added in his usual tone: "Not a suggestion, DiNozzo. We'll stick to the prescribed schedule with these; otherwise they'll lose much of their effect…"

When Tony had reluctantly followed the 'order', Gibbs gave him another questioning glance. "You been using the ointment the doc gave you?" He concentrated on keeping his tone completely neutral.

Tony gave a small nod in response, to his own horror blushing slightly.

Gibbs regarded him a moment longer. "Everything looking okay?" He finally prompted gently.

That caused the younger man to snort softly. "Okay's not exactly the word I'd use, Gibbs…"

The older man couldn't help but smile slightly at that, before quickly sobering again. "There any sign of an infection? Or more swelling?" he simply specified then.

Tony shook his head. "Don't think so. – I'll be fine, boss…"

Gibbs nodded slowly. "If you notice anything or the pain should be getting worse, you need to let me know, Tony…"

"That what the pamphlet says…?" Tony gave him another wry smile, tone a mixture of pained and teasing.

"That's what 30 years experience with gunshot and surgery wounds say, and that's what _I_ am saying to _you_, Tony, so you damn well better not mess around with this."

Another crooked half-smile, but then something on Tony's face suddenly softened slightly.

"No messin' around – got you, boss."

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><p><strong>tbc (eventually... ;-)<strong>


End file.
